‘Year of Monkey’ festivities lightened up Macao

The Macao Government Tourist Office (MGTO) prepared a colourful range of festive celebrations for visitors and residents to enjoy in different local districts including events like the “Parade of Gigantic Golden Dragon”

Festive joy livened up Macao as the Year of Monkey arrived. Chinese New Year is an important traditional festival in Chinese culture. The Macao Government Tourist Office (MGTO) prepared a colourful range of festive celebrations for visitors and residents to enjoy in different local districts including events like the “Parade of Gigantic Golden Dragon”, “Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Monkey”, and “Valentine’s Day Fantasia 2016 – The Fairytale of Lights”.

Last year Macao welcomed over 30 million visitors. During Spring Festival holidays, a great number of visitors visit Macao from the mainland and neighbouring regions. Visitors of different nationalities also choose to visit Macao during this time of the year to experience the ambience of Chinese Spring Festival.

A 238-metre-long golden dragon led a parade across major tourist spots and demonstrated vigorous moves accompanied by vibrant young lions. Their lively performance bestowed wishes that Macao will encounter myriad opportunities and achieve remarkable developments in the Year of Monkey. The Chinese zodiac animal “Monkey” symbolises wisdom and auspiciousness, inspiring Macao residents to embrace new challenges with wisdom and creativity, and work together for a brighter future of Macao.

As another highlight, the eight performance groups for the “Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Monkey” from different countries and regions gave a performance at various tourist spots on the first and second day of Lunar New Year.

This year, the parade revolved around a story about the Monkey King, a famous character in a Chinese classical novel. A multimedia opening show kicked off the parade for the first time with an extravaganza of light and 3D effects. Similar to last year’s show, famous Hong Kong singers and celebrity hosts were invited to the parade. A fireworks show took place on the third night of Lunar New Year.